The U.S. space agency is holding a contest online to decide on the nickname for the next American module to be added to the International Space Station (ISS). You can vote on a name by visiting the agency's Help NASA Name Node 3 page on the Web. The suggested names prepared by NASA are Earthrise, Legacy, Serenity, and Venture; but you can also vote for a name of your own choosing. Until now, NASA has simply referred to the next American module as Node 3, which will contain much of the future life-support resources …

That farout sci-fi staple known as the space elevator is in the news again, among real engineers who take the idea seriously. An organization known as the Japan Space Elevator Association will hold the 1st Japan Space Elevator Conference in Tokyo on 15-16 November. And the attendees should have a lot to discuss. A piece from CNN ('Space elevator' would take humans into orbit) reports that interest in developing a space elevator has never been higher, with hundreds of engineers and scientists from Asia, Europe, and the Americas working hard to turn the visionary …

If you're near San Jose, Calif., you might want to check the "Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon" exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art. The exhibit features sculptures, paintings, photographs, multimedia installations, and other creations by more than 20 artists, who respond to the evolution of robotics technology "with optimism, pessimism, and humor, presenting work that ultimately explores our ambivalent attitudes towards robots." In the video below, JoAnne Northrup, a senior curator at the museum, gives an overview of the project: Here are some photos and

The European Space Agency's new unmanned cargo vehicle successfully docked at the International Space Station today. Called the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the 17 metric ton spacecraft made contact with the orbiting space platform at 14:45 GMT on an experimental mission to prove its technical prowess and deliver much-needed supplies. It also marked the entrance of the European nations into the ISS flight club. According to an announcement from ESA, the automated approach began 39 kilometers behind the ISS and lasted 4 hours, in which the closing of the two was halted …